A Jury Found Arm Broke Its Qualcomm License and Meddled With a Meta Deal, Then Awarded Qualcomm Just $2

A federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware, decided that Arm broke its contract with Qualcomm and deliberately interfered with Qualcomm's business with Meta. Then it put a price on those wrongs: one dollar each. Two dollars total, for a dispute between two of the most important companies in the chip world.

The verdict, reported by Reuters on October 13, came after a five-day trial and a slow start to deliberations. Jurors spent about four hours on Friday without reaching a decision and had to come back on Tuesday.

Both companies walked out claiming victory, and in a strange way both have a point.

What the jury actually found

The core finding is that Arm breached its long-standing Architecture License Agreement (ALA), the contract that lets Qualcomm design its own custom CPUs that run Arm's instruction set. The jury also found Arm intentionally interfered with Qualcomm's relationship with Meta. Those were the two claims Qualcomm won, with $1 in nominal damages on each.

Arm prevailed on the other four of the six claims put to the jury. The exact count-by-count breakdown was not public at press time, though Arm says the jury sided with it on its Technology License Agreement (TLA).

Qualcomm filed the suit early this year with a long list of grievances. It said Arm withheld Arm Compliance Kit verification materials and software patches it needed to validate its custom CPUs. It said Arm refused to renew licenses for the Cortex-A720, Cortex-A520 and Cortex-M55 cores under the TLA, and broke a promise to keep Qualcomm's price within 10% of the lowest price for Arm's processor designs.

The Meta piece goes back to October 2024, when Arm threatened to terminate Qualcomm's architecture license and the notice leaked to Bloomberg. Qualcomm says that came just as it was close to a deal with Meta, and the fallout delayed it.

Two companies, two victory laps

Qualcomm's lawyer told jurors the company's entire chip business depends on Arm keeping its promises, and its ALA runs until 2033. Arm's lawyer countered that Qualcomm was "not harmed in the least" and called the case a play for leverage in a licensing fight.

After the verdict, Qualcomm said: "We are gratified that the jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm, failed to honor its commitments, and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm's businesses." It added that "together with Qualcomm's prior court victory, this outcome further exposes Arm's broader intentions to harm Qualcomm and its ecosystem."

Arm leaned hard on the price tag. "We are pleased with the jury's decision today finding for Arm on four claims and awarding only one dollar in damages on each of Qualcomm's other two claims," a spokesperson said. Arm also accused Qualcomm of pursuing the case "in an attempt to deprive Arm of billions of dollars under our license agreements," and said "the jury's verdict confirms that Arm operated in good faith under its technology license agreement and its award of only two dollars confirms the merit of Arm's arguments in the case."

The bad blood is not new. Arm sued Qualcomm in 2022 over its purchase of Nuvia, arguing Nuvia's licenses did not carry over. Qualcomm said last year it had won "complete victory" once Arm's remaining claims were dismissed. Discovery in that case and testimony from Arm CEO Rene Haas helped push Qualcomm to file this one, making it the second trial between the two in two years.

The money is still on the table

The $2 award makes for a funny headline, but the real stakes now sit with US District Judge Maryellen Noreika. She has to decide whether Arm's breach of the ALA lets Qualcomm suspend royalty payments for five years. Tom's Hardware puts that at potentially hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars in Arm revenue. Arm argues that contractual penalty is not enforceable.

Noreika will also rule, in a separate bench trial, on whether Arm violated its obligation to negotiate future architecture licensing terms in good faith. Qualcomm has been widening its chip ambitions well beyond phones, including warrants it issued to Amazon tied to AI server chips, so the terms of its Arm license matter more than ever.

Whatever the judge decides, either side could appeal. The two dollars were just the opening bid.

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